My Favorite Love Story
By: David M. Curtis
 

One of my favorite love stories is that of Jesus and the woman and the well. She must of experienced much gossip about her. Reason with me a moment. She must have been in her early 40's after all she had been married 5 times, and was with a man that was not her husband as she sat talking to Jesus. To have that kind of power over men she must have been a beautiful woman. With this glimpse into her past she also must have been quite free in sharing herself to men. The other ladies in her community known as the Samaritans, must have been some what envious of her power over men. Gossiping lips must of had little rest working to destroy this woman’s reputation. Read John 4.

When she met Jesus she had her guard up. She was used to people despising her and looking down on her. Used to men flattering her beauty, but in the end using her, and hurting her. All she ever looked for was love. She did not know what true love was. She had brought only shame and years of emotional grief to her own soul through her sins. To top it off every one in her village heaped insult and injury to her, slandering her reputation, making her eventually feel she needed to live up that reputation. No one even tried to understand her. Know one cared for her. All she wanted all her life was to be loved and accepted. She had grown so hardened that she felt there was no such thing as love. Many men and woman especially young men and ladies today follow this same course. Heart ache after heart ache have left them to feel there is no such thing as love; only physical pleasure. So young people give themselves over to fornication seeking to gratify passion and desire, yet their thirsting and yearning for love is NEVER quenched. Oh what a sad story. Brothers and sisters, what I have just described is a spiritual bondage that must be broken with the love of Jesus Christ.

Notice the words this woman brings to her village. “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” verse 29. Yes it was peculiar that Jesus was able to reveal things in her past to her. 1-900 physics by the power of evil spirits counterfeit this. That does not make them Christ. What convinced this woman of Jesus of Nazareth’s divinity is in His love toward her regardless of her past sins. Every Samaritan in her village knew every thing this woman had done. What made this woman so excited about Jesus was not that one more person discovered her dark secrets. It was that Jesus knew all her dark secrets and still accepted her and loved her. When I read this story I see this woman who was used to others condemning her past running back into town saying, “Come see a man that told me everything I every did, and yet still loves me and accepts me, He does not want to hurt me or use me. He just loves me, come I want you to meet Him.”

The experience of the woman at the well before she met Jesus was very empty. She had hungered and thirsted for love and searched for it in all the wrong ways. Jesus knew her heart. He knew her to be a great sinner, yet he knew that the driving force in her heart that lead her to sin was that of a desire for love. It broke the heart of Jesus. In His compassion it was as though he said Father forgive her, she does not know what she is doing. She does not know that her WAY of seeking love is destroying herself. She has never seen REAL LOVE. Let me go see her today at the well and share with her My love.

That day at the well Jesus showed her His love. Everyone elses love had dried up. One husband after another, one man after another, simply stopped caring for her. “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The water that Christ offered her was His love. His love would never dry up; never forsake her, never leave her. His love is faithful. His love endureth for ever. Finally the woman found what she had hungered and thirsted for all her life.

No one needed to know this woman’s past sins, save God alone. Never again did she have to utter a word to others of her past. For even God did not remember her sins, neither would He ever mention them again. The mercy of the Lord endureth forever. “But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, THEY SHALL NOT BE MENTIONED UNTO HIM: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.” Ezekiel 18:20,21. “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and THEIR SINS AND THEIR INIQUITIES WILL I REMEMBER NO MORE.” Hebrews 8:12.

Men and woman that seek the companionship of those that do not have the love of Christ truly abiding in their hearts will find the same bitter experiences that this woman did. Dear young people read te following quote in closing with the purpose of devoting your self to following the principals of the Bible. It will save you years of heartache and heal many wounds. These words if studies closely will help you find someone that truly loves Jesus and therefore can truly love you too.

“Love is a precious gift, which we receive from Jesus. Pure and holy affection is not a feeling, but a principle. Those who are actuated by true love are neither unreasonable nor blind. There is but little real, genuine, devoted, pure love. This precious article is very rare. Passion is termed love. True love is a high and holy principle, altogether different in character from that love which is awakened by impulse, and which suddenly dies when severely tested. Love is a plant of heavenly growth, and it must be fostered and nourished. Affectionate hearts, truthful, loving words, will make happy families and exert an elevating influence upon all who come within the sphere of their influence. . . .True love is not a strong, fiery, impetuous passion. On the contrary, it is calm and deep in its nature. It looks beyond mere externals, and is attracted by qualities alone. It is wise and discriminating, and its devotion is real and abiding. . . . Those who have preserved a virtuous character, although they may lack in other desirable qualities, may be of real moral worth.” The Adventist Home p. 50,51